Members of the Portsmouth High School football team celebrate after defeating Goffstown, 54-27, for the Division III football state championship. Portsmouth, Exeter and Winnacunnet all won state championships on the same day this fall, while Marshwood took Class A state finalist honors in Maine.

Twelve for '12: Seacoast sports stories we'll remember from the past year

By Mike Zhe

mzhe@seacoastonline.com

December 30, 2012 - 2:00 AM

On the Seacoast, 2012 was a year where our greatest triumphs were celebrated on national stages, not just regional and statewide ones.

Whether it was the Portsmouth High School baseball team cementing its legacy with a national-best 89-game win streak, or Exeter swimmer Victoria Arlen winning four medals at the Paralympic Games, or area golf fans getting to see the best young players in the world at the Golf Club of New England in Stratham, the sports news made here traveled well.

That doesn't mean we're any less proud of the prizes that our local teams chase after every year — regional and state championships, NCAA tournament berths — or that all the year's biggest stories were happy ones. We aren't and they weren't.

Here then, as the year approaches its end point, is one sportswriter's view of the "Top 12 of 2012."

Happy New Year.

1. Three kings

On Nov. 17, in the span of a little over an hour, high school football teams from Exeter, Winnacunnet and Portsmouth all celebrated state championships on the Seacoast.

Individually, each championship was a testament to the hard work put forth all season — and offseason — by players and coaches. Taken together, it was one of the proudest sports days our area has ever seen.

Exeter, behind senior running back/defensive back Tyler Grant, the Gatorade Player of the Year in New Hampshire, ran the table to win the Division I title for the second year in a row, beating Pinkerton Academy, 31-21, in the final. It was a season that showed the players tragedy up close, with sophomore Cody Brackett losing his life in September.

"This senior group, we've been through everything," captain Jamie Vogt said. "We just know what it's like and nothing really fazes us. We get up, we're level. We get down, we're level. We know we're going to make plays eventually."

Winnacunnet rode the running of standout back Ben Franzoso and a collectively seasoned group of linemen and defenders to its first Division II title in 12 years, beating Bedford, 21-13, in the final.

And Portsmouth, whose injuries had it going through quarterbacks and other key players like they were tissues, got on the back of standout lineman Rick Holt, righted its ship for the playoffs and ripped Goffstown, 54-27, for its second straight title in Division III.

"We were hoping to get a second one, but we knew the second one would be more difficult than the first," Portsmouth coach Bill Murphy said.

2. Golden moments

Three years ago, Exeter swimmer Victoria Arlen was in a coma, close to death for a period that ate up two years of her life.

In London this summer, she was winning four medals at the Paralympic Games, the pinnacle of competition for athletes with a physical disability.

The Exeter High School senior arrived back home with a gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle S6 (a world record-setting performance), three silver medals and four new American records. She also had to go through a reclassification hearing at the start of the Games that many termed swimming politics at its worst.

Arlen suffered from a rare viral disease called transverse myelitis, which also left her in a coma for nearly two years and has left her paralyzed from the waist down. She was honored with a hometown parade after her return and Gov. John Lynch proclaimed Sept. 21 "Victoria Arlen Day" in New Hampshire.

"It's important to believe in yourself and the beauty of your dreams and to not let anyone tell you different," Arlen said. "I was told a year ago that I had no chance to make the London team and it took my mom telling me that I could do it and not to listen to the naysayers that got me going."

In December, another local Paralympian — hockey player Taylor Chace of North Hampton — scored the game-winning goal as the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team beat Canada, 1-0, to win the Four Nations Cup in Calgary.

3. National treasure

A generation from now, fans will still be talking about the magnificent, unprecedented run crafted by the baseball program at Portsmouth High School. But even the best parties have to end sometime.

After regaining the national record for consecutive wins by a high school program, the Clippers saw their five-year, 89-game win streak halted by rival St. Thomas Aquinas, with the Saints scoring four runs in the bottom of the seventh to beat them, 5-4.

"Yeah, I was in shock," said former player Nate Jones, who now pitches at Wake Forest. "You kind of just expect the team to win. But it's got to end sometime."

After the game, Portsmouth coach Tim Hopley fired off a text to Justin Dehmer, his coaching counterpart at Martensdale-Mt. St. Marys (Iowa), that said: "It's all MStM now, good luck."

Not many could believe what happened next.

Martensdale, which entered the year having won 87 straight games in Iowa's smallest classification, fell to Des Moines East, 4-3, in its second game of the season, falling one short of the mark of 89 and leaving Portsmouth — for however long — with the record that originally garnered it national attention in 2011.

In the end, the Clippers fell two steps short of the achievement they really wanted — a fifth straight Division II title. Despite terrific years from players like pitcher Rick Holt and infielders Billy Hartmann and Matt Feeney, they fell to Lebanon, 2-1, in the semifinals, in 10 innings.

4. End of an era

When the Winnacunnet High School girls basketball team walked off the floor at Southern New Hampshire University in March, a 51-42 loser to Londonderry in the Division I girls basketball semifinals, it placed a bookend on a remarkable run that saw the program win five straight Division I championships, the most in NHIAA history.

Behind point guard Kirsten O'Neil, who was voted the Gatorade Player of the Year in New Hampshire and is now a scholarship soccer player at San Diego State, the Warriors finished an impressive 19-2. But the off night that had been so deftly sidestepped in postseasons past caught up to them one step short of the final.

"If somebody had said to me six years ago, you're not going to lose again at home and you're on your way to five straight titles but it's probably going to end sometime in a semifinal in 2012, I probably would have said, 'I'll take that,'" Winnacunnet coach Ed Beattie said. "But that doesn't make it easy for those kids."

Seven months later, the program would suffer another loss when Beattie, the caustic, in-your-face sidelines guru, announced that he was stepping away from the position he'd held for 31 years. In that span the Warriors went 519-173 and produced more than their share of Division I college players, a group headlined by guards Tiffany Ruffin (Boston College), Heidi Plencner (UNH) and Abigail LaRosa (UNH).

Though publicly vague about his reasons for stepping down — he noted the "amount of support for head coaches is limited" and the "amount of stress, strain and expectations is ever-increasing" — he said he hoped the program could continue its success. His JV coach, Cassie Turcotte, was appointed to succeed him.

5. Value of intermission

It was a tale of two years for the University of New Hampshire hockey team, which went 16-19-3 and failed to reach the NCAA tournament for the first time in 11 years in 2011-12.

The Wildcats fell way behind the 8-ball in the early stages, and even after stopping the bleeding they were no better than a .500 team in the second half, settling for a sixth-place finish in Hockey East — their worst since 1995-96 — and bowing out with a conference quarterfinal series loss to Boston University.

"Every team goes through a little bump in the road and last year was one for us," said senior defenseman Connor Hardowa, on the eve of the new season.

Perhaps no team in the country had a more promising start to 2012-13. The Wildcats brought an 11-2-2 record (8-2-1 Hockey East) into New Year's Eve weekend and have put themselves in position to do things they couldn't a year ago — contend in Hockey East and reach the NCAAs.

"The guys did better than I thought," said UNH coach Dick Umile. "We want to always compete for that top bracket (in Hockey East) and give ourselves a chance to win the regular season. After the first half we've given ourselves a chance to compete for it."

The first win of the season — 5-3 over St. Cloud State at the Whittemore Center — was the 500th of Umile's career. He became the 22nd college coach to reach that milestone.

6. Court sense

Few, if any, high school athletes have left a legacy in our area quite like St. Thomas tennis star Julia Keenan of Greenland.

Keenan became the first New Hampshire schoolgirl to win four NHIAA singles titles. She also teamed with Anna Hayes to win the doubles crown, after leading the Saints to the second Division II team championship of her tenure.

The current Seton Hall freshman — on a full athletic scholarship — closes out her standout career with four titles in singles, two in doubles (with Hayes) and two with her team. She's also been ranked in the top five in New England for her age group in both singles and doubles.

"She's always humble about it," said Michelle Trainor, her friend and teammate at St. Thomas. "She never tells you she's amazing. But when she plays, it's just on a different level.

"It's probably the body of work," said Keenan, asked what accomplishment she takes the most pride in. "I think winning the team championship this year was pretty special. It was a comeback story. I hadn't won a team title in two years so that was the icing on the cake. I think it was the best team in all four years I'd been there, so it was pretty special."

Not to be overlooked is the area's other graduating standout female athlete, track star Hillary Holmes of Exeter. The current Cornell freshman capped her outstanding career in the spring by winning three events at both the Division I meet and the Meet of Champions, and set a new record for points in winning the state heptathlon.

7. Champions table

When the Portsmouth High School basketball team lost back-to-back games at midseason — their first — the questions seemed to multiply: Were the Clippers deep enough? Was there enough size inside? Could someone complement guard Kamahl Walker on the perimeter?

A little less than two months later, we had our answer.

The Clippers won the program's 18th state championship — and second Division II crown in four years — when it ran away from Bedford, 58-33, in the final at UNH. Walker was the catalyst of a quick, dynamic lineup that won its final 12 games of the season.

"I can't even explain how I feel right now," said forward Greg Tsougranis, one of five senior starters. "All the hard work we put in, everything just paid off. It's the best feeling."

The PHS cagers had company at the Seacoast's champions' table:

The Exeter girls soccer team went undefeated (19-0) in winning the Division I crown for the sixth time in seven years;

The Portsmouth softball team strung together a series of cardiac playoff finishes and edged Kennett, 1-0, behind hurler Mariah Crisp in a taut Division II final;

The Marshwood wrestling team won its first Class A title emphatically, with Tyler Davidson (113 pounds), Nick Janes (145 pounds), Cody Hughes (138 pounds) and Jackson Howarth (132 pounds). Hughes, who was undefeated on the season in Maine, was named Most Outstanding Wrestler. Meanwhile, Alex Mercurio (heavyweight) and Zach Faskianos (152 pounds) won state titles for York;

Behind Hayden Pate and Kyle Cone, the York golf team won the Class B state title for the third time in four years;

Winnacunnet senior Lexi Pelletier capped an outstanding cross-country season by winning the Meet of Champions in November.

8. Junior achievement

When Andy Hyeon Bo Shim halved the 33rd hole of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship with a bogey, in clear view of the clubhouse at the Golf Club of New England in Stratham, both he and the club had made a little bit of history.

The 17-year-old Shim became the first Korean-born player since 2004 to win this title. GCNE became the first New Hampshire club to ever crown a U.S. Golf Association champion.

Both, afterward, were thrilled.

"It's a great event and I'll remember it for the rest of my life," said former Gov. Craig Benson, who was serving as honorary chairman of the event his club was hosting.

Shim's 4-and-3 win over Jim Liu in the final match was considered an upset, and featured a comeback from a 5-hole deficit after 18 holes — the biggest in event history. For the thousands of local golf fans who took in the weeklong championship, it was a pretty good feeling, too.

Locally, the biggest prize went to North Hampton native Mike Mahan, who held off three-time champion Craig Steckowych to win the Seacoast Amateur for the first time at Pease GC in Portsmouth.

9. Triumphs, tragedies

When Alex Rotsko, a legendary high school football coach in Western Mass., was introduced as the new coach at Marshwood in the spring, nobody could foresee his first year on the job playing out like this.

In good ways and bad.

On the field, Rotsko took a Hawks team that had gone 2-6 in each of the previous three years and turned it into a champion. He installed a Delaware Wing-T offense, oversaw a run-oriented attack that just didn't turn over the football, and guided the team to a 10-2 overall record and its first Western Maine championship in 23 years.

But the program, and the community, mourned the loss of people close to them. In May, it was former head coach and assistant coach Guy Lajeunesse losing his 11-monthlong battle with brain cancer at the age of 51.

In October, former quarterback and captain Troy Pappas died from injuries sustained in a fall at Bates College, where he was a freshman. On the eve of the Class B championship game against Mount Blue, former player Jason Czenewski, 25, was killed in a car accident in central Maine.

"It's been a real rough fall, but the players seem to have gotten through it and are using it as motivation," said Matthew Brenner, a senior at Marshwood.

10. Homecoming kings

After a decade-long flirtation, complete with spurns, Portsmouth will welcome a collegiate summer baseball team in 2013.

The Seacoast Mavericks of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League announced in December their agreement with the city to play all 27 of their home games next year at Leary Field. The move follows two seasons of small crowds at their former home field at Spaulding High School in Rochester.

"This day marks the biggest day of the Seacoast Mavericks franchise," said team president Mike Daboul, during a Dec. 10 function at Demeters Steakhouse in the city.

The Mavericks, one of nine teams in the FCBL, are made up of top college players with an emphasis on New England players. They finished 20-33 in their second season in 2012, with infielder Kevin Stenhouse getting named league MVP after setting a new league mark by batting .393.

The city's other summer tenant, the Seacoast United Phantoms soccer club, took a step back after a memorable 2011 season, stumbling and hobbling across the finish line with a 5-6-5 record, failing to win any of their final eight matches.

11. Trials and tribulations

In an Olympic year, a handful of local products got a lot closer to the Games in London than most.

Three of those were in swimming, where Hampton Falls 15-year-old Izzy Reis (100-meter butterfly), North Hampton 15-year-old Kyra Sarazen (200-meter backstroke) and Tommy Duvall of Durham (1,500-meter freestyle) all qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials, even if they lagged well behind the athletes who'd be chosen to represent the U.S. in London.

Still, just earning a spot on the Olympic Trials stage in Omaha, Neb., marked major breakthroughs in their careers.

"I think people understand just because it has the Olympic name in it," said Reis. "It's a conversation starter."

In rowing, Deaglan McEachern of Portsmouth — like he did in 2008 for Beijing — came painfully close to landing a spot on the U.S. team. He and partner Ryan Monaghan were edged out in the men's pair event.

12. Out of the shadows

A lot has happened in the eight years between its Division II baseball championships for St. Thomas, plenty of it good.

But since that 2004 title, it had also watched local rival Portsmouth drop down from Division I, win four straight championships and craft a national-best 89-game win streak.

But the Saints showed us this spring that elite baseball is not confined to the Port City. First, they rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh to stun the Clippers, 5-4, and hand them their first loss since the 2007 playoffs.

Then, behind the hitting and pitching of Jordan Bean, and his superb supporting cast, they charged all the way to the Division II title, beating Lebanon, 4-3, in walk-off fashion in 10 innings when Arran Maran dove across the plate on Josh Terry's sacrifice fly.

"The seniors, they've been through it," said STA coach Marc Schoff. "They've been in the other dugout, carried home that small plaque and those silver medals."

Bean was honored with the Gatorade Player of the Year award for New Hampshire. Across the river, Marshwood senior pitcher/shortstop Luke Fernandes won the award for Maine.